When it comes to craft a bone dagger to use in close combat , what animal should it be made from ? Well , according to a new study publish this week you should be carve itfrom a human thigh os .
research worker have looked at the bone sticker made by indigenous citizenry from the South Pacific island of Papua New Guninea and found that their preceding predilection for carving dagger from human bones might have been because they infer that they were the best ones to apply , in addition to their spiritual significance . Published inRoyal Society Open Science , the study is an strange one , to say the least .
The warriors of Papua New Guinea would behave the sticker into combat , using them only when the altercation enrol the hand - to - handwriting stage . The sharpen and intricately carved bones were used to terminate off an resister who was injure by foresightful - aloofness weapons such as spear and arrows , or simply to dispatch anyone else take off guard .
While today the bone daggers run to only be carved from the leg bones of the flightless cassowary that are aboriginal to the island , in the past the tribe would occasionally fashion them out of the thigh bones of humans . According to the researchers , the human castanets were only taken from well-thought-of warriors , and were suppose to impart especial laurels and status .
Butthe human bone daggersmay have had far more of an reward over the cassowary artillery than spiritual prestigiousness . research worker have found that they make hard and more effective blades , meaning that more pressure could be apply before the bone was potential to fracture and break .
The squad tested this by analyzing 11 bone dagger crafted by Papuan tribes , five of which were human and made by masses from the Sepik region , while the remaining six were derived from cassowary bones . While most of these dagger came from museum collection , one cassowary dagger was bought from an antique bargainer leave the researchers to physically essay its persuasiveness to the breakage point in a machine .
The other 10 bone daggers were or else scan to construct three-D poser , turn on the team to test their strength in a computer pretence . It twist out that even though both type of off-white daggers have similar material properties , it was the shape of the human bone daggers that make them an advantage when it came to mechanical lastingness .
The natural curve in the human thigh osseous tissue means that they were capable to resist an impressive 31 percent more force than the cassowary bones , before fracture . They suspect that the warriors who used the human bone obelisk had specifically direct them to preserve their perceive ghostlike economic value , making them less potential to soften and so prolong their status . The cassowary ivory dagger , on the other hand , were much more potential to be used in fight as they were deemed more disposable .
So if you ever need to craft a bone obelisk to protect yourself , then maybe you should look for a human femur to influence on .
